Artifact Size and Plowzone Processes

Theoretical consideration of the formation of plowzone archaeological deposits implicates artifact size as an important and heretofore under-used source of information. Modality in size distributions of degradable artifacts, such as low-fired pottery and bone, indicates the addition of stratigraphic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of field archaeology 1995, Vol.22 (3), p.305-319
Main Authors: Dunnell, Robert C., Simek, Jan F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
America and Arctic regions
Archaeological sites
Archaeological surveys
Archaeology
Field archaeology
Field Reports: Excavation and Survey
Generalities
Material culture
Material degradation
Minimax
North America
Pottery
Prehistory and protohistory
Size distribution
Tillage
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Theoretical consideration of the formation of plowzone archaeological deposits implicates artifact size as an important and heretofore under-used source of information. Modality in size distributions of degradable artifacts, such as low-fired pottery and bone, indicates the addition of stratigraphically deeper materials to a plowzone assemblage. This means that different ages and/or depositional contexts are mixed in such assemblages. With sufficiently large and well-controlled samples, the location and characterization of subplowzone deposits may be possible from the analysis of size distributions of surface materials alone. Application to a "worst case" surface assemblage from SE Missouri demonstrates the general feasibility of the approach.
ISSN:0093-4690
2042-4582
DOI:10.1179/009346995791974242